The world of filmmaking rests upon an absurdity: a new filmmaker can demonstrate their skill only when given the opportunity to make their first short film. But in countries without adequate arts infrastructure, a debut short film is the hardest thing to finance, because it creates little revenue, and the filmmaker has yet to earn any trust.

That’s the reason why Anti-Archive is asking you for your support. To give this chance to three young filmmakers whose talent we believe in so deeply. To provide space to those voices for a more creative, sentimental, and provocative future. We need your support to give the floor for the first time to three women who could change the face of the emerging Cambodian movie scene: Sreylin Meas, Kanitha Tith, and Danech San. They're now developing distinctive stories dealing with the bonds of friendship, the excitement of new discovery, and the bitterness of lingering memory, in contemporary Cambodia. So let's bring these stories to the screen.

If successful now, we hope this is just the beginning. ECHOES FROM TOMORROW could become a sustainable, long-term talent development program that sets its sights on the new horizon of first works by Cambodian filmmakers with exciting future projects. This is about building a Cambodian arts movement attuned to the young, the ignored, the female, the local, the real. 

About Anti-Archive

Anti-­Archive (AA) is a Cambodian film production company created in 2014 by filmmakers Davy CHOU, Steve CHEN, and Kavich NEANG, with PARK Sungho joining in 2016. Recent years have seen a boom in Cambodia's film industry with new filmmakers and new ideas, and AA has played its role in it, focusing on the emergence of new voices of arthouse and independent cinema. 

However, we believe the way is long, and we still lack the capacity to finance new films ourselves. That's why, now more than ever, we are seeking your support. 

Anti-Archive's films have premiered in world prestige film festivals and received major awards:

• Three Wheels (Kavich NEANG, short, 2015, Busan Film Festival)

• Dream Land (Steve CHEN, feature, 2015, Locarno Film Festival)

• Diamond Island (Davy CHOU, feature, 2016, Cannes Film Festival Critics' Week)

• Waxing Moon (Adrien GENOUDET, documentary feature, 2016, Entrevues Belfort)

• Turn Left Turn Right (Douglas SEOK, feature, 2016, Torino Film Festival)

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But those premieres and awards don't really matter as much as the opportunity to support one another. Kavich, one of AA's founders, often repeats a saying he learned from Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong: "Making films is important, but making friends is much more important."

This has become an underlying model for Anti-Archive since its founding. A team of friends and co-creators behind the scenes brings these films to life by collaboratively incorporating their own stories and experiences into the fabric of the filmmaking.

Steve Chen was producer and cinematographer (DP) for Douglas Seok's Turn Left Turn Right; Douglas was DP for Steve's Dream Land and for Kavich Neang's Three Wheels; Kavich acted in Davy Chou's short film, Cambodia 2099, and Davy produced Kavich's shorts, Three Wheels and Goodbye Phnom Penh. And that's just the boys! Not one of these films could have been made were it not for the presence, creativity, and hard work of Sreylin, Kanitha, and Danech.

About the First-Time Filmmakers

Sreylin, Kanitha, and Danech have worked as assistant directors, production managers, acting coaches, actresses, and art directors across every one of the films listed above. Their dreams and personalities have become key components of those films. But they've never had the chance to write or direct their own films. Each has her own story, inspiration, and experience.  

In recent years in Cambodia, notable figures of creativity, modernity, and resistance have stood out, and many of them were women. It's worth noting we cannot yet find such representation in cinema. It’s time to change this! ECHOES FROM TOMORROW centers Anti-Archive’s mission on these three women who embody the future of Cambodia's emerging cinema scene. 

Who We Are

​About the Three Short Films

EUNG — អុឹង (by Danech SAN)

A young woman relaxes at a riverside restaurant alongside a friend. She finds enchantment in the nearby river and mountains even as she recalls her own painful memories. 

Currently in script development and pre-production phase. Production to occur January 2018. Post-production completed by April 2018 with your support. 

GARDEN — សួន (by Sreylin MEAS)

Two women from different backgrounds encounter one another at an oceanfront resort and discover a hidden bond that ties them together, allowing them to escape from their realities.

Currently in script development. With your support, production to occur by June 2018. Post-production completed by September 2018. This will be a co-production with Phnom Penh-based production company 802AD Films.

INTERSECTION — ប្រសព្វ (by Kanitha TITH)

A young artist wandering a changing capital city observes the disappearance of memory while she searches for the creative elders who remain and develops her own conception of the future.

About the Producers 

Davy CHOU is a French-Cambodian filmmaker and producer. In 2009, he created French production company Vycky Films and established a filmmaking workshop in Cambodia, where he founded the collective for young filmmakers, Kon Khmer Koun Khmer. In 2014, he co-founded Cambodian production company Anti-Archive. As a filmmaker, Davy Chou gained attention with feature-length documentary Golden Slumbers (2011) and his first narrative feature, Diamond Island, which won the SACD Award at the 2016 Cannes’ Critics’ Week. With Anti-Archive, he produced two short films by Kavich Neang, Three Wheels (2015) and Goodbye Phnom Penh (2015), as well as the feature-length documentary Waxing Moon, by Adrien Genoudet (2016).

PARK Sungho was born in Korea in 1977. He studied film editing at the Department of Cinema at Chung-Ang University in Seoul. From 2007 to 2013, he worked for Busan International Film Festival, serving as program coordinator for Asian cinema and manager for the Asian Film Academy. Since 2013, he has settled in Cambodia, working for various projects to promote Cambodian cinema, including Cambodia International Film Festival. In 2016, he joined as a partner of Anti-Archive.

So why are we asking for your help?

Short filmmaking takes a lot of energy, but, more practically, it requires a certain amount of investment for professional equipment, crew, and post-production services. Anti-Archive is increasingly shaking up the scene but we do not yet have the capital on hand to invest in these exercises of purely creative development. We need your support to push forward!

How will we use the money?

If we have the chance to accomplish our goal, we will split the funds raised in equal parts, so we hope for at least $5,000 for each of the three films. Even if it seems small, this kind of budget will let us give the time and means necessary for each director to bring her vision to the screen. It would also allow us the possibility to draw upon higher-quality, professional post-production services for editing, sound mixing, and color grading.

By supporting this project, even symbolically, or by sharing this campaign with your own networks, you will contribute to the development of a new generation of Cambodian filmmakers and to the expression of new voices whose perspectives on contemporary Cambodia are deeply needed. We hope to have you on board with us for this new, exciting, and unknown journey. Let’s build this future together!

When will these films get made?

The first film's shooting starts in January 2018. Yeah, we know. It's soon!

We are already in the development and pre-production stage for all three short films. The three films will receive technical and logistical support from the Cambodia Film Commission. 

The first film entering production will be Danech’s Eung. This film has gone through multiple script drafts and location scouting, and a cast and crew have already been assembled. Sreylin and Kanitha’s films will start shooting later in the year. Each of the three films should require approximately a month for post-production. 

And how will audiences get to see them?

These films emanate from the individual hearts and minds of the three directors, so Anti-Archive will produce and distribute each film separately as well. AA will submit each film to as many international festivals and screenings as possible to share the stories with audiences worldwide. Ideally, this will not only promote Cambodian cinema abroad, but also inspire audiences and young filmmakers in Cambodia. Potential cash awards would be saved for future projects with the three directors. We expect audiences will be very interested in these three films.

Help us to capture those echoes from tomorrow and build a new generation of creative Cambodian filmmakers. 

Let's make these films! 

Stay tuned, and thank you for your support.

សូមអរគុណច្រើន។

Recent press about Anti-Archive:

• Cambodge, nouvelle sève (Libération, October 2017)
• Turning cinematic dreams into reality (Asia Times, January 2017)
• Busan: 'Diamond' team enters Cambodia's 'White Building' (Variety, October 2016)